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Recently I
read a blog, written by a Realtor, about how in his
particular area it is now a buyer’s market. He says; “I
hear it from new clients all the time” – “but I thought
it’s a buyer’s market?.” Reading this provoked some
memories in my mind, which I would like to share with
you guys and that go back to times when I myself was
personally out looking for and trying my very best to
find a place to buy. I have to say that my own
particular experiences were, well, let’s just say
“unpleasant”. And by my describing it this way, I am
actually making a gross understatement but I do have to
be polite and politically correct here, so I’ll just
keep it nice…
Now what does this have to do with a buyer’s market, or
a seller’s market, you ask? Well, everything!
Before I move on,
I would also like to say this – regardless of the inventory in
your market, regardless of the current price range,
regardless of price sensitivity, no matter what DOM is,
disregarding the current state of the economy, whether
it’s a recession, depression, or whatever – one fact
absolutely exists, whether you like it or not! Buyers
matter! They matter just as much as sellers! You can’t
just dismiss and ignore them, their feelings, their
needs, their concerns, Etc., just because it’s a
so-called “Sellers Market”. It takes both a willing
seller and a willing buyer to get to and through escrow,
and to close a transaction on closing day. For that
matter, this is what it takes to even get your offer for
a purchase in the first place. Keep this in mind while
you read the rest of my blog here, and I will add to
this later on after I describe a few of my own personal
experiences. I think this is important in order to
clearly drive my point home here, and to allow some of
you Realtors out there to visualize and place yourselves
in your “buyers eyes” for a change…
It was a time, only
six years ago mind you, when the local Real Estate
market here in Honolulu, where I live, was literally
saturated with buyers and there was an extreme lack of
inventory. Things were so bad that it was difficult, as
a buyer, to even find a place that was for sale, and
actually have a chance to go out to take a look at it
before there were already several offers on the table.
And my so-called “Realtor” wasn’t helping much either!
It would have actually taken some true ‘due diligence’
on her behalf in order to have found something for me
that was both suitable to my needs and desires, as well
as actually “available” and not already spoken for – and
this was something that she just simply was not willing
to do (give me her time or due diligence that is). I
cannot possibly even count, at this point, looking back,
how many properties that she took me out to and it
turned out that every single one of them already had
multiple offers and it always seemed like I was last in
line and always on the back burner. Every time she
showed me a property and it turned out that the home
wasn’t truly available, my frustration level increased
yet another few more notches! I would have just done the
searching all by myself except that, back then, I didn’t
know how to look up properties yet (other than in the
newspaper and online ads) so I was at a real
disadvantage. But then again, as a buyer, to be frank,
I’m really not supposed to have to know how to do this
stuff myself anyway – I mean, it’s that a part of the
reason why a buyer hires and trusts in a Realtor in the
first place? Am I not making use of the services of a
Realtor, as a buyer, in order to obtain his or her
assistance and help?
There were times when I rode along with this Realtor, in her car, to look
at a property. Yes, I am fully aware that there are many
Realtors out there who won’t even entertain this idea or
do this; I.E., take a client out to look at a place and
provide the ride too. That’s fine, but she offered, and
if you do offer, then don’t you think that it would only
be common courtesy to your client that you NOT spend the
entire sum total of your driving time on your cell
phone, while at the same time ignoring your driving,
ignoring driving safety, and not to mention ignoring
your client who is setting right next to you with
questions about the property that you are about to show
to him or her? We were on the freeway and I swear to
(choose your own particular term here) that we came
within inches of hitting at least two, maybe three other
cars while in route that afternoon! It wasn’t pleasant!
I also had a few
rather negative experiences “without” the personal
presence of a Realtor! Case in point; the time when the
listing Realtor told me on the phone to “just go out and
take a look at it, the door’s open.“ When I arrived at
the home (it was actually a condo in a high rise) it
turned out to be an absolute horror! As I walked in, I
was immediately staring at a huge, long, wide rip/hole
in the carpet, along with a very heavily worn area that
tracked from the living room all the way into the master
bedroom and on into the bathroom. In the kitchen, there
was corkboard on the wall above and behind the stove.
What in the world corkboard was doing in a place like
this in the first place is absolutely beyond me, but
there it was, complete with black spots where it had
obviously become way too hot and looked like it had
almost caught on fire, probably on multiple occasions!
It looked awful (not to mention dangerous). Ah, then
there was the living room – once you moved your eyes
beyond the gaping hole in the carpet, you eyes
immediately locked onto the drapes. They were hanging
partially off of the curtain hooks and sagging, and the
edges were covered with spots of ugly black mold! There
they were, literally screaming out as if to say, “look
at us, we are curtain panels, aren’t we beautiful”?
LOL!!! Nice touch when you’re showing a property to a
perspective buyer, right? But oops, I almost forgot,
that’s right – nobody was actually there showing the
property to me, so maybe that made it okay? Then there
was the bathroom – where I was greeted by a black
garbage bag beautifully draping and covering the toilet
bowel from the top all the way down to the floor, and
ALL of the plumbing for the bathtub was literally laying
in the bottom of the tub. Again – “nice touch” for your
prospective buyer –NOT!
After seeing all of
this, I have to tell you that I was more than just a
little “upset”. After all, I had driven literally more
than an hour to get to (find) this place, all the way on
the other side of the island, wasted some very expensive
gas, and this is what I had as my reward? I decided to
call the Realtor who had so graciously invited me to
drive out there and “just go out and take a look at it,
the doors open.” Unbelievably, unlike 99.999% of my
experiences, the Realtor actually answered the phone
when I called! What a shock – although calling a Realtor
and actually getting a real, live person on the other
end, as opposed to voice mail all the time really should
not be such a rare occurrence. I immediately asked her –
“didn’t you tell me that this unit was move in ready”?
“Yes, it is”, she replied, “what do you think”? I was
speechless! It was very obvious that this Realtor, who
was, I want to remind you, the “listing Realtor”, had
absolutely no clue of the actual condition of this
property! How could this possibly be? This is NOT
intended to be a blog rant against Realtors, honest,
it’s not, but I have to pose the question – how does
this happen? How can a Realtor possibly get so detached
from his or her profession that he or she can be this
far off base and disconnected with reality? There are
other experiences that I could share with you, but let’s
just jump on here and cut to the chase…
Going back to
Buyer’s Markets vs Sellers Markets…
I regress – “it
takes a willing seller AND a willing buyer in order to
conclude a sale”! It really is that simple. Back in the
days when I experienced the above issues, the REAL
PROBLEM, and what was REALLY going on, was simply the
fact that many (if not most) Realtors were apathetic.
They had an “attitude” that no matter what they did or
did not due, the properties would sell. And yes, they
were right about that – absolutely! Homes were selling
right and left, faster than you could say “sold”!
Honestly, you did not need ANY sales skills to sell Real
Estate at that point in time – all you really needed was
your license and an understanding of how to do all of
the paperwork and how to get your sold properties to and
through escrow. But isn’t it funny how we humans have
this tendency to take just about everything that we get
our grubby little hands on and somehow we manage to find
ways to inject abuse? Does anyone out there truly
believe that a buyer really enjoys the experience of
showing up for an appointment to look at a property (a
so-called pre-scheduled “showing”), only to find 10 or
15 other people there looking at the same place, all at
the same time, and not being able to even get close
enough to the Realtor to ask a couple of simple
questions? Does anyone out there truly believe that an
experience like this makes a potential buyer feel good
about the home, or about his or her prospects of
actually making this “their home”? If it’s true that you
need to create a situation where a potential buyer can
see him or herself actually living in the property, then
do you really believe that this tactic is a good way to
go about accomplishing this? When it’s all about the
convenience of the Realtor, and not about the buyer,
what do you really have here? When a buyer has a
“negative experience” with a Realtor, or with or in a
home, don’t you think that this potential buyer is
likely to keep and file away that experience in their
long term memory? Let me tell you, from my own personal
experiences – people will and do keep these memories. If
this were not true then I would not be setting here,
remembering and relating these stories to you in the
first place. I’m NOT the only one!
Yes, it has been
years since this happened, and the market has changed
and some things are different. But on the other hand,
some things are still the same, believe it or not. It is
during those times when sales are hot, when sales are
easy, good, and the market is booming, when you SHOULD
and NEED to be cultivating good experiences with your
potential buyers, because those people are still going
to be out there for awhile, even after they make their
current purchase. Eventually, that person comes back
into the market place and becomes a potential buyer all
over again. And not only that, they also become a
seller. Both sellers and buyers need Realtors, but if
you create even one single bad experience for them, you
are running a huge risk of turning this person into your
next “For Sale By Owner” non-client. And as for
potential buyers, they are going to remember what you
put them through the next time around!
So who cares weather
it’s a “Buyer’s Market” or a “Sellers Market” – at the
end of the day, I believe we need to treat EVERYONE well, and
take care of all of the clients, on both sides of the
fence. The reality is – it’s always a buyer’s AND a
seller’s market. When you meet the needs of both your
buyers and your sellers, it is only then that you have
created a win/win for everyone and a situation where you
will have long-term repeat clients coming back time and
time again (not to mention excellent referrals).
Most stagers will tell you; "when preparing a home for
sale, you need to look at it through buyers eyes".
But It's really not just the home that you need to look
at through buyer’s eyes - you also need to look at
your Clients through Buyer’s eyes, and Seller’s eyes.
It's all three!
____________________________________________________________________________
I am a Real Estate
Merchandiser, AND a Home Stager. My company offers
complete Real Estate Merchandising Services. Home
Staging is but only one part of the overall selling
process. Our philosophy is that the outcome of a well
prepared Real Estate Merchandising Plan, which is
similar to a business plan, forms the basis for
everything that is done during the implementation of the
staging process itself. In Real Estate Merchandising,
it’s all about strategizing, planning, and affecting
your specifically and properly targeted buyer market,
and then integrating this into the implementation of
your homes’ presentation. Your presentation is your
staging – your merchandising efforts precede, drive, and
connect to your design and staging efforts. One without
the other is like the cart without the horse. If you
would like to truly give your clients the greatest shot
at selling their home’s as quickly and as easily as
possible, and at attracting the highest and best
possible offers, why would you NOT want to take
advantage of a tool that large corporations all around
the world have made use of for literally decades? Large
companies such as Coca-Cola, and countless others, have
literally founded their entire businesses upon the
principles of merchandising, and they spend Billions of
dollars each year on their merchandising efforts and
activities. They DO NOT spend this money for no sound
reason - they spend this money on merchandising because
it works. My company is unique, in that we take this
approach to Home Staging. We are not just “Stagers”, we
are Real Estate Merchandisers AND Stagers. We provide
full, well rounded services with the ultimate goal of
helping to get homes sold. Please feel free to contact
me if any of this sparks an interest!
Other Links & Suggested Blog Readings:
Million Dollar Stagers Website
10 Reasons NOT
To Stage Your Home!
The Genesis of
Staging
Watch a Home Being Staged.
At the end of the shows, you will see each
homes listing price, staging costs, and the home
sellers profits that were actually gained as a result of
the staging! Our pricing is similar to what you
see in the HGTV staging shows. - Now, after watching
some of these shows, don't you
agree that the price was well worth the
Staging Investment?
HGTV - The Stagers Full Episode
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